Gov. Cuomo's Video Gets Basic Facts Wrong

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo released a video today (embedded below) as part of his push to redefine marriage.

Problem is, he gets most of his facts wrong, such as when he says same-sex couples are "denied over one thousands federal and seven hundred state rights" because they cannot legally marry.

That's an old, discredited talking point. Back in April we noted that Poltificat-RI rated this claim about denied rights as "barely true" when it was floated by a pro-SSM spokesman in Rhode Island. And back in 2004, Josh Baker wrote a policy brief for the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy that came to the same conclusion about federal rights.

More importantly, Gov. Cuomo is wrong that New York is "falling behind" when it comes to marriage: just this spring Maryland and Rhode Island both rejected same-sex marriage, and in Minnesota the legislature just passed a marriage amendment defining marriage as the union of husband and wife. A vote for gay marriage would put New York out of the mainstream at this point.